Improvement in evaporating-pans for sugar-juices



ihvrrnn STATES hATENT OFFICE.

D. M. COOK, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN EVAPORATING-PANS FOR SUGAR-JUICES.

Spceilication forming part oi' Letters Patent No. 3S. [52, dated April 14, 1863.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, D. M. COK, of Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Evaporating Pans for Sugar- .Iuices; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiication, in which- Figure l is a plan or top view, and Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal section, of the improved evaporator-pan.

The same letters of reference in the different figures indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates especially to the evaporator-pan patented to me on the 22d of June, 1858, reissued December 20, 1859. In that pan I obtained a continuously-flowing stream in an indirect coursefrom one end of the pan to the other. I also effected the evaporation ofthe juices by {ire-heat alone.

The object I now have in view is to effect the evaporation of sugar-juices on the principle of operation described in my said patent by means of steam heat, or a combination of both Iire and steam heat, employing for this purpose a zigzag system of steam-coils, arranged mainly on the middle portion of the pan-bottom, and traversing the zigzag channel formed by scum-arresting partitions, which are arranged so as to form a zigzag circulation-channel.

rlhe advantages due to the cooking of sugar-j uices by steam or a combination of steam and hre are well understood; but it may be proper to state that when steam is employed with fire-Haine the heat on the surface of the pan does not require to be so scorching hot, and if steam alone is used there is no danger under proper care of the juice being burned.

The advantages of the ledges and the cooling sides oi' my patented pan are now so universally known and admitted it may be unnecessary for me to give a description of the same, except by referring to that patent which is dated as above stated.

To enable others to understand my present improvement, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A is a rectangular pan. Its sides are made,

preferably, of wood. Transverse] y to the pan, at proper distances apart, are arranged scumarresting ledges or partitions a a, said ledges being formed by corrugating or crimping the metal portion of the pan-bottom. They strike out alternately from opposite sides of the pan, so that a zigzag or indirect channel or passage from front to tail end for the current to circulate through is formed, as represented in the drawings. The arrows indicate the circulating sugar-juice current. The pan-bottom, with its ribs, is clamped between the wooden sides by means of screw-bolts b b or otherwise. The ends of the bottom may be turned up as high as the wooden ends of the pan. Now, I take steampipes l or tubes and unite them in several series by ,means of head and end tubes, c c, so as to form a zigzag coil,7 which is just adapted to fill the spaces between the partitions aa, so far as longitudinal capacity of said spaces is concerned. lIhe length of the tubes separated is much less than the width of the panbottom, and therefore when the coil is laid upon the pan-bottom there remains an uncovered portion of bottom, as indicated at `e e, on each side oi' the coil or pan. These uncovered portions constitute cooling sides or surfaces. The steamcoil has an inlet at f and an outlet at g. The pan has a discharge at y for the escape of the owing j nice as fast as cooked or evaporated. rIhe steam-coil is held down by means of a screw-rod, h, or in any suitable manner that will allow it to be removed for cleansing.

If the pan is to be used for steam-evapora. tion only, the lnetal bottom is closed in with a wooden bottom, so as to prevent the rapid radiation of the heat. Ihe steam-coil may be heldin suspension by means of small arches or other connecting devices, h h', so that the juice may iow under the tubes, as well as about and over them.

If the pan is placed on a fire-arch only, such portion of its metal bottom as is covered by the steam-coil is exposed to the ire, so that the pan is heated at its middle portion and kept cool on its sides outside of the range of the fire or iiame. I may sometimes use both fire and steam, but never re alone, with this pan. The pan may also be set on rockers' or on a device which will enable it to be set more or less inclined to facilitate the iow of the juice or retard the flow of the same. As the heat varies, so must the pan be regulated or the thickness of stream varied, as described in my aforesaid patent. The steam flows into the coil vand follows the line of the iiowing juice, and tlius 'acts upon it equably about the middle portion -of the pan. The thus heated juice is caused to boil, and as the surface of pan outside of the coil is comparatively cool, the scum flows from the middle of the pan in both directions, right and left, and

deposits, ready to be skimmed off with a skimmer.

Vllat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The arrangement of a zigzag steam-coil,

constructed substantially as described, within the ledges of an evaporator-pan, which allows the juice to How continuously in an indirect 

